DESTRUCTIVE WATER SPOUT.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 108, 5 October 1874, Page 3

DESTRUCTIVE WATER SPOUT.

An American exchange says :—“ One of the direst calamities by flood which has visited Nevada since its settlement by the whites took place on the afternoon of the 25th July, at three o’clock. It had been raining with unprecedented violence at times since early morning, and about mid-day a cloud burst upon the lofty range of mountains which borders the canyon in which the town is situated to the east, and the water came through in large streams. None but trifling damage was done, however, and soon the excitement ceased, but scarcely had people returned to their homes and the scenes of their business when a deluging rain set in, such as is seldom seen in any country. In Eureka each street and gully-way was, within ten minutes from the beginning, converted into a miniature river, and the eastern portion of the town, which is much lower than any other, and through which is the natural channel for a good-sized creek of water, was immediately flooded. The fall for the water being considerable, it tore through with fearful rapidity, but still the inhabitants thought themselves safe in their houses, and presumed at each successive stage that the flood had readied its highest and that a subsidence would follow. They reckoned amiss ; for suddenly there came thundering down the canyons from two directions a perfect ocea , which carried everything floatable before it. So great was its speed and volume that it fairly tore up the ground, and mingled the dust, of the earth with the spray of the foaming waters. Those who remained in their premises were now hemmed in beyond the possibility of escape, and the scene was one of the most heartrending character. Those living or who chanced to be on the more raised portions of the town, came heroically forward en masse and rendered all the assistance|that human aid could render. Every moment houses were moved from their foundations and came down the torrent. To quit those which yet remained for the purpose of hazarding one’s escape, was to commit oneself to the foaming stream, and be carried down among fragments of houses, utensils, timbers, in fact everything that came in the way of the flood, and which went tumbling forward to destruction. Ropes were procured and placed in the hands of brave men who ventured forth as far as possible, each depending on the other as they formed in line, extending into the flood. Good work was done by those who were rescued by this means, but before the men had time to procure such means, or even to think of it, many were also carried down and lost. As the debris floated by. now and then could be seen a human form mixed with the mass. Some were still alive and struggling for assistance, but they were beyond the reach of those who looked pityingly on, to Bare.